The first breath.

As Su Ming was shocked and caught in a daze due to the four Great Arts of Divine Essence, they repeated themselves before his eyes. In that short span of a breath, they repeated themselves thousands of times.

As the first breath pa.s.sed by, Su Ming realized that he was no longer Sui Chen Zi. He seemed to be able to see a faint layer of black smoke coming from the white-robed and white-haired Sui Chen Zi. There were one hundred thousand faces within that black smoke, and all of them belonged to Su Ming.

When the second breath arrived, the one hundred thousand faces formed by black smoke spread out from Sui Chen Zi"s body. Once they gathered together behind him, Su Ming could feel that he now possessed a body, and he was no longer a lost soul in the world.

Once the third breath came, Su Ming saw Sui Chen Zi"s back. What appeared in his mind was still the shock he received due to the four Divine Essence Arts. That shock seemed to have vaguely fused with his life, and he had a feeling that he had understood.

After the three breaths, Sui Chen Zi, who had his back turned towards Su Ming, shook his head and gradually left into the distance. When Su Ming"s body began to fade away, he suddenly spoke.

"The start of my Life Matrix is midwinter. The world is still, and there is no life there. It"s as if a vast amount of snow had covered the earth, and all manner of lives ended… This is… what you mean by with one thought, you can destroy the heavens," Su Ming mumbled, a light of understanding s.h.i.+ning in his eyes.

"After midwinter, my Life is that of b.l.o.o.d.y autumn. With blood, I will dye the sky red, turning it into the color of autumn and gain… the will of autumn. This is a transition between life and death. It is the only state where death and life exists at the same time within my Life Matrix. It is not like the complete stillness within midwinter, but neither is it like the vast amount of life during the searing summer…

"Since both life and death exist at the same time, it is the state of all lives dying, as well as the state of all lives being reborn… This is what you mean when you say with one thought, you can give life to the universe."

Su Ming was whispering absentmindedly, as if he was not talking to anyone but himself. However, Sui Chen Zi, who had his back turned towards Su Ming in the distance, paused in his footsteps when he heard Su Ming say these two things. He kept still and unmoving, as if he thinking about Su Ming"s words and waiting for the rest.

"The Life Matrix I came to understand is a path that moves from death to life, just like how midwinter moves towards spring, but the movement from spring to winter in the world is something that cannot be reversed. However, this is what I lack in my Life Matrix. Even if it is something that cannot be reversed, I still have to tread down this path.

"I was originally lost in my path after the b.l.o.o.d.y autumn. Now, I have come to understand. The searing summer after the b.l.o.o.d.y autumn should be filled with an abundance of life force. That life force is hot and can burn away everything. That life force is great and can illuminate all manner of lives.

"This life force… might seem real, but in truth, it is fake. Even if it is real in a sense. It can burn me, and also use its heat to burn all the lives in the universe, extinguis.h.i.+ng the fire of life within all the living beings.

"Perhaps before it does anything, it is a mere illusion, but once the lives are extinguished, it will become real. Summer… Summer… Burn all lives to light up my own life so that it would become greater… This is what you mean by with one thought, you can make all lives perish."

Su Ming"s eyes grew even brighter. This was just like how he had gained that unique epiphany when he was in Eastern Wastelands Tower all those years ago. Now, from the four Great Arts of Divine Essence, he had come to gain an epiphany that not even Sui Chen Zi had expected.

This was an epiphany that belonged solely to Su Ming.

Sui Chen Zi turned around slowly. At the instant he looked towards Su Ming, Su Ming mumbled his final string of words.

"After the searing summer would be spring… Spring, the time when all lives are revived, where all manner of lives will rise. This should be the first step for all life forms, but for me, this is the final step in my path from death to life. With the power of resurrection, I will complete my awakening.

"If I succeed, then with one thought, I"ll be able to give life to all manner of living, but if I fail… then with one thought, I will make all lives peris.h.!.+" A glint appeared in Su Ming"s eyes and he lifted his eyes to look at Sui Chen Zi. He looked at the old man with white hair and wisdom as well as old age in his eyes, and a firm persistence of his beliefs appeared in Su Ming"s face.

"This is my understanding!"

At the instant he said these words, a slightly strange look appeared on Sui Chen Zi"s face. He seemed as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he could not do so. Instead, with some form of epiphany in his eyes along with a sort of dazed look on his face, his body gradually faded away.

Almost at the instant Sui Chen Zi"s body vanished, the s.p.a.ce around them also disappeared, and Ecang"s low roars echoed in Su Ming"s heart once again. A powerful will swept through the area, and booms caused by it cras.h.i.+ng into Su Ming"s soul could be heard rising into the air.

However, in Su Ming"s senses, that sound seemed to be incredibly far away from him. At that moment, his soul was completely burnt. However, even as his entire soul was burnt, he noticed that… he did not disappear.

"I was dead to begin with, and even my soul was dead. What would happen if I died again?" Su Ming mumbled.

"It"s thought… This is my thought…" Su Ming whispered softly. He remembered the signs that were known as Abyss" Awakening when he first came to control time.

When Dao Yuan came, when the three seals in Su Ming"s soul were released, and when that voice telling him that the world was built for Abyss emerged in his head, he could sense that he had moved into the true state of Abyss" Awakening.

Only then was he able to Possess the Crimson Python Phoenix in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence and form his new physical body, though Su Ming had not known about it before he Possessed the creature. It had practically been a natural instinct.

"The Duke of Crimson Flame once said that the Abyss Builders can revive the dead… This is an inborn ability that s.n.a.t.c.hes the power of creation from the universe"s hands. It does not conform to the will of heaven, and neither is it in harmony with the universe.

"I"ve been thinking about where this ability came from all this while… Now I understand, after awakening to Abyss, what will awaken again is the ability to build… To build the Abyss, and to build life…

"So Abyss" Awakening requires… a person to die once, truly, completely, and absolutely." As Su Ming mumbled while coming to understand this, a wisp of his soul reappeared, and as it swiftly expanded, it instantly became a complete soul.

This form of completion was different from before he burned his soul, but Su Ming could not tell just what was different about himself. He could only sense that something about him seemed to have risen to a higher level. It was as if the state of being alive and dead existed at the same time in his soul. He was no longer just a dead soul… but was something dead that possessed life.

It was just like how he had come to understand the will of autumn. At that instant, Su Ming became aware that he had truly moved into the will of autumn. Now, not only had he understood it, but his soul had also managed to obtain it.

From then on, the presence of Bright Yang would no longer be a terrifying thing that could wipe him off, because Su Ming"s soul was no longer completely dead. It now possessed life. It was caught between life and death, just like autumn.

It was also during that moment that Ecang"s enraged roars as well as its cries of surprise filled with disbelief grew close instead of remaining in the distance. They echoed in the area clearly. Ecang"s voice was filled with shock, puzzlement and astonishment towards Su Ming"s transformation.

Su Ming"s soul had occupied eight-tenths of all the golden venous pathways by then, and it had the heart that was filled with the aura of death at the center surrounded. As Su Ming awakened to Abyss and his soul became complete, he began to Possess Ecang once again without any hesitation.

This time, he was clearly much faster than before. As he fought back against Ecang"s will, he also noticed… that he seemed to be able to control some power that did not belong to him.

It was the power of law, the law Sui Chen Zi had left behind before his death!

When that understanding surfaced in Su Ming"s heart, runic symbols suddenly appeared within the right eyes of all his one hundred thousand faces. Those runic symbols did not exist before, but even though they had just appeared, there was not a hint of unexpectedness within the faces.

The instant they appeared, the one hundred thousand runic symbols within the right eyes of the one hundred thousand faces flew out at the same time. Endless rays of black light spread out from them, and each of them turned into a black shadow.

Su Ming had seen such shadows before. They were those that could kill all the people within the world with one hundred thousand stone monuments.

At that moment, one hundred thousand of such shadows appeared and… bowed at Su Ming. As they did so, he clearly sensed that he could control them.

"Sui Chen Zi was hoping that a person who could successfully Possess Ecang would appear, or else he wouldn"t have provided help when I Possessed a third, a half, and eight-tenths of those venous pathways."

At the instant those shadows appeared, a thought rose in Su Ming"s head. Immediately, the one hundred thousand shadows charged towards Ecang"s will with furious roars. As they crashed into it with loud booming sounds ringing in the air and as Ecang roared madly, Su Ming immediately started Possessing, raising his coverage from eight- tenths to eighty-five-hundredths.

The parts that had turned black from the golden now occupied most of the territory. Besides the heart at the center, only very little was still s.h.i.+ning in gold when Su Ming looked around himself.

Eighty-six, eight-eight, ninety!

Ninety-one, ninety-two, ninety-three…

The one hundred thousand shadows were formed by Sui Chen Zi"s law. As they fought against Ecang, Su Ming"s soul swiftly spread out. As time pa.s.sed, Su Ming"s soul Possessed ninety-five-hundredths of all the venous pathways!

By then, besides the golden heart that was filled with the aura of death, all the other venous pathways that were previously gold had all turned black. All of them had become Su Ming"s property. The power of his soul spread out, and the waves of power that were stirred up caused Ecang to let out a cry of despair.

It was also during that instant that besides the stone monuments that belonged to the ninety something people who received the test, failed, and were chased out at the same time, almost all the stone monuments erupted forth with a powerful ray of lights.

One hundred thousand stone monuments. Besides the small portion of those who had surpa.s.sed one million feet, the other ninety thousand something stone monuments shone with a light that spread far and wide. That light was brilliant and piercing to the eyes. As it shone, numerous figures with shock and cries of surprise were forced out of their stone monuments.

Ninety thousand something people!

These ninety thousand something people who wanted to obtain the Divine Essence and who had been immersed in the world formed by their memories in the stone monuments all appeared. This scene shook all the people"s hearts, causing them to be unable to help themselves, they cried out in surprise. This was something that had never happened since the time Western Ring Nebula"s foreign land was born.

"What happened?!"

"How could this be? I was in the world in the stone monument just now, but I was forcefully expelled by a will that I could not fight against."

"Could it be… Could it be that someone has reached ten million feet? That"s impossible. There"s no stone monument here that is ten million feet tall."

"Look. That is… Our stone monuments, they are…"

Cries of surprise rang in the air. The last one was especially piercing, and immediately, all the people in the place were stunned. To their shock, they discovered that besides their own name, another one had suddenly appeared on their stone monuments.

That name was above theirs, as if the owner of that name was the true owner of all the stone monuments, the true master of the land with the one hundred thousand stone monuments!

The additional name… was Mo Su!

Zhou Kang stood by the side and stared at Su Ming"s stone monument blankly. Unbidden, the image of Su Ming listening to his experiences seriously when he had just arrived in this place appeared in his mind.